All The Cumbrian Coast Request Stops
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- čas přidán 8. 08. 2021
- I took a trip down the stunning Cumbrian Coastline ticking off as many request stops as I could ... where I discovered a suprising number of manual crossing gates still in operation!
You can download my request stop map here: geofftech.co.uk/downloads.html
I think we can agree that Geoff should eventually move into a home with a back door that takes him right onto the platform of a request stop.
I know of a house that might be on the market soon that’s not quite that scenario, but within sight of Harrington station on the Cumbria coast line. The loft windows are roughly at the same level as the track bed on the viaduct, and just over a road width from it. Cumbrian rail enthusiasts keep an eye on Rightmove for this gem of a property coming on the market. 😉
Not my house by the way - I live yards from a former station, on a line closed by the Beeching cuts. More’s the pity…
I saw a house in Ireland (where I live) that their back garden had the passenger access ramp and old station building of the Carrickmines railway station, closed in 1958 and was later demolished to make way for a light rail line following the old railway.
I'm surprised he doesn't live in St Germans in Cornwall, there's a live in carriage by the station, which also happens to be a request stop
The name of the station will then be: Geoff’s Station
Complete with an allotment
"Chewier that Barrow-in-Furness Bus Station"! Can you remember that, Geoff? The greatest Chewits ad of all!
Seeing you come out of your hotel room door (for the second time) just so you could film it reminds me of the Comic Strip Presents.. Bad News. When they are driving down the motorway to a gig with sweeping shots of the van on the motorway one of them asks, "Are we there yet?", and one of them replies, "We would get there a lot quicker if we didn't have to keep stopping to let the cameraman out!".
ahhh!! TOTAL FLASHBACK to Comic Strip! So so good. And so so funny, i remember this. Got to go and look up some of their clips now .....
@@geofftech2 They are almost impossible to find. Well at least Bad News related clips are. However, the whole boxset is available on DVD.
agh! just. found. amazon link to buy them! tempted ....
@@geofftech2 This will push you over the edge czcams.com/video/njCsb6ra4Kw/video.html
How many gated level crossings are there on the network?
Some quick filtering of Network Rail data suggests there are 6,179 level crossings. 2,282 are gated, 108 of which are manned by railway personnel.
That's a lot more than I was expecting!
Classic Danny! What a stat.
Well, that's a lot fewer that I thought...
How many on mainlines
I reckon that's halved maybe more in the past year
Geoff's back at it with the request stops it seems...
Interesting that this should pop up today as we're doing the Cumbrian Coast line from Lancaster to Carlisle this weekend, along with Carlisle to Leeds via Settle and Leeds to Lancaster via Giggleswick.
The Cumbrian Coast line is an absolutely stunning gem of a route. The lovely coast on one side, and stunning scenery on the landward side.
Great video Geoff.
You’ll be pleased to hear the Green Road sign is back in place 😁 great to meet you on that day.
I'm curious what are the most-used request stops, and whether their usage exceeds that of the least-used scheduled stops.
That’s a fun question
Conwy in Wales (I believe?) is one of the most used request stops out there.. 40,000 passengers a year or something like that
Always enjoy a trip on the Cumbrian Coast. I love how some stations are closer to each other as the crow flies than they are be rail!
Geoff has gone artistic (in a good way)! Got diverted in the middle of a blizzard on a 125 from Leuchars to London through Cumbria (years and years ago). It literally was the most beautiful train ride of my life.
3:12 I'm from Barrow and I usually put 'Barrow-in-Furness'. Nice to see you visiting the Cumbrian coast!
That's handy, caught this at just 7 mins old. Nice scenery and the freedom to go out and enjoy it at last, even if it is persistently raining.
Per manual crossings; Carl Giles, the cartoonist, lived near Ipswich, and had some extremely robust views on public transport and manual crossings. He was always having run ins with petty minded signal men who wouldn't open the gates because of some petty rule, like it was a Sunday or late at night and he was in bed, with gates closing the road but keeping the tracks clear, forcing Giles on a huge detour. They constantly got ridiculed. There were some pretty strange attitudes and rules about these things once. I think that the actual story is in a biography of Giles by Peter Tory.
When I was a very little girl - some 60+ years ago now - our local station had gates, rather than barriers, but they were controlled from the signal box and not by a person. Frinton-on-sea, where we went for our holidays, had manual crossing-gates until quite recently, I gather. I suppose the automatic gates were more likely to fail than the barriers we see today. Incidentally, the local station only had a level crossing for many years - they had started to build a bridge in the late 1930s, but that was scuppered by the War, and it was not until the 1980s or 1990s that the bridge was finally built!
Way back in 1959 (pre Beeching) I was sent on a temporary detachment to the Proof and Experimental Establishment at Eskmeals. We stayed at the Bootle station hotel which was run by a Mrs Watson. Very good meals every evening and following an excellent roast on the Sunday evening there was sherry trifle which filled a bowl at least 12 inches in diameter. There wasn't much left after we three had finished. On the Saturday I had a rover ticket and went by steam train to Workington and then by diesel railbus up to Keswick where I took a coach excursion around the lakes. On the Sunday I took the train and visited Morecambe. There was so much one could do and so many places to go to before Beeching and Marples had their way
it is rather sad you can still see the scars on the landscape where lines were ripped out.
You can still walk the old siding from where it branches off the CCL to the (still intact) level crossing gate outside the gun range. I live very close by so I have walked it many times.
The Cumbrian Coast line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues (as the Furness line) via Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands to Carnforth, where it connects with the West Coast Main Line.
Only the station signs / road signs call it 'Barrow-in-Furness'. Locals call it Barrow (pronounced Barr-a / Barr-uh). Furness means 'the far ness / promontory', but gets pronounced more like 'furnuss' rather than 'fur-NESS'. Yes, I reckon a lower case i for in.
I’d say a more accurate pronunciation would Barro’o
and Barrow is in lancashire
@@johnholmes912 it was until the reorganization in the 1970s, when it became part of Cumbria
I agree about the pronunciation - really grates to hear people say 'fur-NESS'!
I'm from Barrow and I've always written it as Barrow - in - Furness.
Barro' o is how it's said locally.
In August 1992, my wife and I, our two children and my mother in law were offered the use of a caravan at Nethertown, so we drove through the night from Hertfordshire in our Nissan Sunny estate to arrive at the camp site in the early hours of the morning. We found the caravan by flashlight and made the beds then crashed out, only to be woken up about 4:00am by everyone on site going to work at Sellafield. We had a good view of the coast and the rail line from an adjacent field.
Why did you need torch light if your neighbours worked at Sellafield? Weren't they glowing brightly enough?
Great video Geoff. Next time you’re in Cumbria, you should think about doing an all-stations kind of video on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway 😉
That was a very slick transition into the sponsorship, well done!
I'd like to see that video as there's still a manual gate at Whittlesea. Also love the underrated Cumbrian coast and often try to get to Ravenglass for Eskdale. Also odd to see Geoff doing a sponsored video! Needs must and such professional and enjoyable content needs paying for somehow. Nice work :)
Has he watched Barrow to Carlisle in 15 mins? Whizzy stuff with those waves at full spate and scudding clouds!
Brilliant! That old phone was rubbish though and the signage at the station looks like it hadn’t been changed in 30 years! Great video Geoff!
Ahhh Green Road Station. My local train station for many years and it was my main mode of transport for the first 12 months I lived in Cumbria. A 30 minute walk from the farm to the station and then the short - but beautiful - estuary trip to Barrow where I would either meet my driving instructor or pick up some essentials that I couldn’t get in Million. It was so pleasant to sit there in the Cumbrian silence (sheep, cows and walkers) and wait for my train. Thank you for bringing back the happy memories.
Millom?
@@edenviews yes that’s what I meant :)
I love Cumbria railways. So beautiful!
Next time you are near St Bees, be sure to visit the West Cumberland Railway Museum. It’s a private collection located on St Bees Main Street. It’s open a few times through the year to the public, but the proprietor will open on request for any interested party. He’s a great guy, very knowledgeable and I’m sure you would enjoy the visit. You can find the museum on Facebook. 😀 Great videos by the way. 👍🏻
Lovely stuff Geoff. It takes me back to visits with my Nan up to see my Aunt Kit in Maryport and the inevitable day out by train, usually to Barrow-in-Furness, and the wonderful countryside for all to see. It was a bit noisier then, and a great deal grubbier too, as they were still using first generation DMUs at that time! 😅
Cheers mate, really enjoyed this. Glad to see that not all of the idiosyncrasies of the area have gone, even if they are fewer and further between!
Thanks Geoff 👍🍻🍀
Coming to a screen near you in 2022 Geoff Marshall presents All the manual crossing gates 😁
I love the Cumbrian Coast line. My favourite is the walk from Nethertown to Braystones along the beach. Lovely.
Geoff - would you ask Network Rail to allow you to be an official visitor to a manual crossing gate and explain what happens?
I work on the manned railway crossing between Drigg and Froxfield.There are still four manned crossing,which aren't signalbox , their gate crossing worked by crossing keepers,Saltcoat, Limestone Hall, Kirksanton, Skelly Cragg. Saltcoat is due to go this year .
Fascinating video there, especially with the scenery and simplicity of the railway in that area. My Brother and Sister-in-law live just outside Cockermouth, so I will have to make a point of seeing those stations whenever I get to visit there again.
We live in an old Gatehouse. BR sold the house in the 80s and the crossing keeper spent the day in a lineside cabin (shed with a portable loo next door) instead until it was modernised in 2014. He retired the same day I believe.
alot do, I was speaking to a signalman who works a box in Lichfield & he said he'd hate to work in one of them big ROCs
Please, NEVER include an alarm in your video. My anxiety shoots through the roof when you do
Do like all the hotel cut aways, nicely done. Always a lovely part of the world to visit and for some reason I really like the sound of St Bees.
Love these request stop videos! Please do more.
This video brings back memories of doing the big loop one Saturday while a student at Lancaster, Lancaster -> Barrow -> Carlisle -> Settle -> Lancaster. Definitely an overdose of scenery for one day!
It was Brundall Geoff with the crossing and I also love a good gate as well at a Railway Station. I see a all the Manual Level Crossing Gate coming soon to CZcams! Brilliant video and remember riding the line once behind some Class 68 locomotives.
What a picturesque region, I need to visit! Lovely video as always
Good Video Geoff. Re Manual Gates (Drigg). I suggest you visit Lincoln Road crossing in Enfield. The road gates are permanently closed now, but still extant. The Pedestrian gates are manned 7am to 7pm. You can tick another box since between 7pm and 7am the crossing is another unmanned pedestrian crossing. Happy to show you round.. (Paul Godwin)
totally enjoyable. Cumbria is truly a treasure to explore
Absolutely amazing video again Geoff. I really enjoyed watching this fabulous video with the great content. Can not wait for the next video.
Though no longer request stops, Roose and Kent's Bank used to be request stops as well due to the short platforms.
Another excellent episode on the railway. Really enjoyed. Thanks
Thanks, Geoff! Another great video in such a lovely place ❤️
I live just outside of Flimby, my house is right by the line. It’s quite nice living on the coast and when the steam specials go past we have an interrupted view.
I misread 'Cambrian' and was hoping to see Dyfi Junction. Oh well.
Just travelled that line today from Cark to Barrow and upto Whitehaven. Walked from Whitehaven to Parton ( to request a train ) right along the railway for about a mile and a half passing some huge cliffs.
Looks totally lovely. Wish I had been there.
1963 My weekday school Train from St Bees to Corkickle and yes it was a Steam Engine!! Those wooden rods in the blinds made great swords!!!!
Nice to see you up in my neck of the woods, The Cumbria coast is a stunning line for scenery, Its a shame the new northern trains are not cleared to run the entire line, great video as always
I live in Millom! It's a great part of the world and a lovely place to live
When you mention Sellafield, it reminded me of Ian Marchant's Parallel Lines, where he rides this line; and described it as beautiful and picturesque...until you get to Sellafield!
As in the power plant?
Grew up walking dogs around Green Road and lived close to that bit of line. Great to see you do a vid on it!
The Impossible Arrive! Nice to see you Geoff
Great videos, enjoy all your stuff well researched and presented..Have tgravelled this in late 60s
So lovely up there.
Gotta love semaphore signals and signal boxes.
I would place Cumbria before Devon, Cornwall, Wales and Scotland.
Middlewood near poynton has a manual gate for as long as I remember!! Lovely film as always!!!
4:50 there are still manual level crossings between York and Knaresbough at Poppleton, Hammerton and Cattal
Are they still there? I thought they were all being removed as part of the upgrade to allow a 30-minute service on the line, but I might have got that wrong...
@@stevieinselby they are still there but some like at Cattal and Moor Monkton for example, have been replaced with newer gates to the same design but with the added of barrier level crossing lights (with no sound). But still the same as it has been with it being manual.
Fun video, thanks! There are 2 manned crossings south of Silecroft, either side of Kirksanton - walkable from the station. It was a stop - but only on market days ...
There are a surprising number of closed stations on that stretch.
The line also shadows, of course, The England Coast Path. However it has been popular for years with real ale enthusiasts as so many of the villages have good pubs. You should try the beer at "the Vic" in the station house on the platform at Drigg. Sadly, Bootle has lost both of its pubs recently.
Lovely walk from Silecroft to Bootle over the top of Black Combe.
It's a lovely line, my uncle and I did it a few years ago behind 37s when Northern hired in DRS 37s and mk2fs to cover for the 156s they'd hired to TransPennine before the nova fleet arrived. At some point I'll have to go back and do all the stops, except I live on the east coast and don't fancy staying in a hotel just to tick off new stations.
I've actually ticked off 52 new mainline stations in the last 7 days (not including today). Tuesday I did Staines all stops down to Weybridge. Wednesday I did Staines all stops to Ealing Broadway via Windsor plus all stops on the Greenford branch. Thursday I did Staines all stops to Reading plus all of the Ascot to Aldershot line too. Friday I did Kempton Park all stops to Kingston (should've done Shepperton, Upper Halliford, and Sunbury too, but I mucked up on scheduling and ended up 1 train short at the end of the day).
And yesterday I did Staines to Queenstown Road, Battersea Park to Victoria, Victoria to Stockwell then down to Morden to do all stops up to Tooting Broadway then Elephant and Castle all stops to Waterloo return then up to London Bridge. London Bridge to Blackfriars return to get the station sign, London Bridge to Cannon Street, then out all stops to Westcombe Park. DLR from Greenwich to Limehouse (my first DLR trip), Limehouse to Fenchurch Street as my first 357 then all stops to Upminster on C2C, to Emerson Park and Romford on my first 710, then to Stratford on a 321 and to Liverpool Street on my first 720. Then to Euston Square, Great Portland Street, and Baker Street on the H&C/Met before down to Regent's Park and Waterloo on the Bakerloo, for the last Reading train of the day back to Staines.
Sad I'm going home tomorrow, since I've done all stations in a 30 mile radius of there.
There’s a manual crossing at Littleport, just up from Shippea Hill, as I was delighted to get stopped by it last week.
i'm awaiting the "All the Level Crossings" series
I think manual crossings will be around for a while yet especially on quiet lines like the Cumbrian coast and freight-only lines, though passenger trains + Gates Crossings + Semehpores is a very rare sight indeed these days! and when you go back up there again, between Silecroft & Millom there are 2 gated crossings with semaphore Distant signals too! if you follow the A5093 south from Silecroft you'll reach both, they are real throwbacks to the golden age of railways!
God that sound at 0:00!!!!!
Yes I thought it was my phone
A member of my family asked if my phone was ringing.
My son asked why my alarm was going off
I see a new series coming “Geoff travels to all the stations and repairs their faults”. I’d watch that
I'm an avid follower of your videos, Geoff. Living in Lancaster (the home of the 'Selfie King' who I chat to quite regularly!), the Cumbrian Coast line is quite local to me, especially as I am now retired. I really don't want to criticise as I massive love all that you produce, but I thought that no mention of the nearby nuclear waste dump in the woods beside Drigg station was a significant omission, But keep up the good work!
Great little Stations there!!! 😎🚂🚂🚂
The request stops on the line have gradually been made normal fixed stops. We only have 2 request stops left now since the December timetable change- Nethertown and Braystones.
Brilliant stuff, thanks.
I've been waiting for you to this one
One of my favourite lines - some pretty impressive scenery all the way down, but especially south of Maryport, where the line reaches the coast (as Geoff mentions). Single track working, manual gated crossings and plenty of semaphore signals for good measure.
We still have a crossing near us that has manual crossing gates & semaphore signals. It’s at Hubberts Bridge on the Poacher line between Grantham & Skegness.
I have been waiting for this one part 1
Just a quick comparison of Drigg's features, versus Adelaide Metro, first up, something that Drigg doesn't even have, the flowing bin bag, Adelaide Metro, while it DOES use bin bags, DOES NOT have exposed bin bags, they're all contained within a metal housing. As for classic level crossings, Adelaide metro has none, not for a while. Onto ticket machines at stations, I can only think of one station on the entire network with ticket machines, and that's Adelaide. Next up disabled humps: Adelaide metro HAVE implemented those to allow for the disabled ramps to work, although they are working on refurbishing stations to match train heights so that the humps won't be needed, on the outer-harbour line (my local line) there are humps at Glanville, Ethelton, and Woodville, there are probably humps at others, but I can't remember seeing them. Request stops: There are none on Adelaide Metro. Signal boxes: the last one standing (disused since the 80s though) is the Adelaide Wye signal box, Gawler used to have an amazingly restored one, but it was burned down by vandals in 2005. No station has a book store. That's all the comparisons I can think of.
Drigg does look incredibly quaint! I got a real urge to go visit ☺️
And whilst I have absolutely no use for drawing maps, nor have any computer programme to in do it in, I am very tempted to try out your skillshare deal and learn how to make maps 🤔
Lovely video again, Geoff! Thank you!
I love Drigg. i met the gardener there. He keeps the station in tip top condition.
Ridden on that train a few times up to the Prince of Wales at Foxfield :-)
4:24 I went to drigg station, I remember there was a little bed and breakfast hotel just on the station which I slept there years ago
Did you like the tunnel at Whitehaven Geoff. With the single line and the token system held by the drivers to go through.
Hi Geoff. There was a manual gate at Dullingham in Cambridgeshire (only one stop out from Cambridge itself) wen I last cycled round there in October.
Great scenery as you said, I love on Glasgow and I read Scotrail are doing away with hand signals to stop at request stops on Scotland. You will push a request stop button on the platform and the driver is alerted in his cab to stop.
Live in Glasgow!
Foxfield's a manual crossing too. (300m SE of the station)
Lovely video, thank you. I can't really remember watching a sponsored video by you. As you mentioned the maps in the videos (which are nice) I wondered if you could add a map of the whole UK to the beginning of each video when you're out of London and a small map of London when you're in London with an indicator where in the country you are, so that we from everywhere around the world understand where the video takes place. Thanks!
one of mhy favourite journeys is the "triangle" Start at Carlise, head down to Lancaster, pick up the Bentham Line to Giggleswick (I think) a walk to Settle and then back up to Carlisle.
There is a manual crossing at Tal-y-Cafn which is also a request stop on the line to Blaenau Ffestiniog
Theres a manual crossing just north of Peterborough, near Helpston Level Crossing! Lovely area.
We have been one here in Hythe and there is another in Marchwood on the Waterside branch
Nice to see your house
Love the video. Please could you do one on how you do the mundane planning of all stops videos?
Hi Geoff you should have stopped at Foxfield and walked in to the village called Broughton as its a lovely little village and as really good B&Bs i highly recommend you stay there as there are some great places to walk and see, if you walk through the park you will see a large mansion that looks like a castle on the left as you come out in to the open field, and this mansion use to be a boarding school where i attended in 1970 to 1973, it as a moat and if you follow that moat up to a double white gate then turn right follow the path through the field until you come to a gate/style you will see the woods/forest where you can walk around, and that woods/ forest was actually set on fire in 1971 or 72 can't remember which yr now so long ago, and the only way the fire engines could get to the fire from the village was through the boarding school grounds, you will also find a wishing well by the gate/style, you can either climb the hill to the woods or follow the path on the right after the gate and follow it to the forest area, i winter we use to have great fun sledging on the hill opposite the mansion and the hill leading to the woods, give it a go sometime
Thanks for visiting!
More request stops yay!
Hi. Regarding manually operated level crossings, there is one at Littleport and they have timed the trains in both directions to arrive at the same time.
There's still a manual crossing down the road from me at Dullingham station on the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border. I was sat there the other day waiting for a train to go by and wondering how long it will be for this world. That one is manned, there's another unmanned one a little bit further down the line just outside Six Mile Bottom (stop sniggering at the back!) where you have to get out your car and operate the gates for yourself.
How do you know if there's a train due?
Wait, how does the second one you mention work?? Who closes the gates when a train is coming? Or are all car drivers supposed to close it behind them?
@@caw25sha There's a light, a bit like a traffic light, that's green when it's clear and red when there's a train coming.
I'd love to see more videos with manual gates in - but then I am a crossing keeper for Network Rail in Cumbria 🤓. I know of three manual crossing boxes locally on the Tyne Valley Line, two on the Blyth & Tyne line and one on the ECML near Tweedmouth. Each one will work differently. You'd be welcomed to my box if NWR give you permission!
i'd love to Cutler! working on it .. .!!
Awesome video
Yes Geoff you need to do a manual level crossing video. There was a manual level crossing down the road from my Dad's house at Wateringbury, but now it has automatic barriers.
A video on how to what extent the railways contributed to the retention of rural populations (through the availability of employment) as well as it's contraction would be really interesting, Geoff; but probably quite time-consuming to do as it would require a lot of research. Something like pick an unstaffed rural station, find out how many people were employed there in its earlier days and what they did; then find out how automation resulted in the loss of their positions and to what extent the local population altered - i.e. did they and their families stick around, or did they have to move away to find new employment?
By the way, how about a similar series of stations served only by minimal numbers of passing trains or just parliamentary services? For example, I'm hoping to do Balmossie to Barry Links and then onto Golf Street this Saturday - thanks to the relatively recent habit of Scotrail providing two trains in the space of 35 minutes in the same direction - only! Are there any other examples of this?
Geoff If you want to see some old manual crossings then i think there is one on the East Kent Railway and Bodiam on the Kent and east sussex railway. Bodiam also has an amazing castle near the station.